Ashland City Council asks for change in charter following inability to vote in council member

A special-called meeting has been set to approve a resolution to apply changes to the Town of Ashland City's charter and to officially add the vacant council seat to Cheatham County's general election ballot in August.

The Ashland City Council recessed its regularly-scheduled session Tuesday evening. City Attorney Jennifer Noe explained that moving forward depends on Gov. Bill Haslam’s signature, which they didn't have at that time.

The meeting will resume May 15 at 6 p.m.

Noe presented changes to the town’s charter at the council’s March meeting. The charter previously didn’t specify a course of action to select a candidate when the council was unable to reach a decision; Noe said some municipalities opt for mayoral tiebreakers.

Changes that the council supported asking the legislature to amend in the charter include specifying that if the council cannot come to an agreement to fill a vacancy, a special election would be held the first Saturday after the expiration of 90 days since the vacancy.

Councilmembers voted unanimously at its meeting in March to fill its only vacancy by adding the race onto the August ballot after multiple deadlocked votes to appoint a candidate.

Former Councilman Gary Norwood moved to Clarksville and concluded his time on the council Nov. 14. Each subsequent meeting until the March decision to turn to the voters, Councilmembers Roger Jackson, Daniel Anderson and Steve Allen voted in favor of applicant Dwyot Thornton; Mayor Rick Johnson and Councilmembers Lisa Walker and Tim Adkins opted for Chris Kerrington.

Adding the item to the ballot opens the doors for others to run for the open seat as well.

The cost to add the item to the county’s ballot was previously estimated at $300. Noe said Tuesday that there could be an increase to the cost since then; however, an updated estimate was not immediately known.

Kelly Fisher, reporter for the Ashland City Times, can be reached at KPFisher@gannett.com, 615-801-3866 or on Twitter at @KellyPFisher.